


The Strangefrost Express

by Lailyn



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Domestic Bliss, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Humor, Hurt Loki (Marvel), Hurt Stephen Strange, Hurt/Comfort, Loki (Marvel) Does What He Wants, M/M, Missing Scene, Romance, Sick Loki (Marvel), Tony Stark Cameo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:40:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23996167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lailyn/pseuds/Lailyn
Summary: A collection of drabbles/missing scenes/vignettes imported from my Tumblr, lovingly compiled and archived here so they do not get lost and buried in the interstices of time and space.There is now aVietnamese translationof this fic by Transquarium.
Relationships: Loki/Stephen Strange
Comments: 47
Kudos: 107





	1. Chapter 1

** The Great Galactic Curry-Off **

“Hang on, Loki, the coconut milk goes in after the chicken, not before – ”

“Says who?” Loki snipped the top of the box off with a pair of scissors.

“Says the – ” Stephen deflated at the sight of Loki happily tipping the carton of coconut cream into the pot, “ – recipe.”

Loki turned the heat all the way up: the complete opposite of what the chef on Youtube recommended.

“Hey this is fun.” Loki stirred the ‘curry’ furiously with a ladle. “I think we should substitute tomato ketchup for the tamarind juice. Kinda like an Italian-Thai fusion thing. What do you think?”

Without waiting for Stephen’s answer, Loki did just that. Stephen was too busy rummaging through the medicine cabinet for a roll of Tums or two anyway, just in case. “Whatever you say, Darling.”

** The Consumer Connundrum **

Loki : What’s this?

Stephen : Dishwasher.

Loki : And what’s that?

Stephen : Coffee-maker.

Loki : And this?

Stephen : Tumble dryer.

Loki : And what’s this contraption that looks like a medieval torture instrument?

Stephen : That’s…a sandwich maker.

Loki : Hmm. You humans can’t do anything by yourselves, can you.

Stephen : *scoffs* I’ll have you know, I can do away with all these first-world luxuries, no problem.

Loki : Yeah? Then what’s that?

Stephen : That’s…a steamer iron.

Loki : I…see.

Stephen : *mumbles* Levi gets wrinkled sometimes.

Loki : ….Quite right.

**Gooey Love **

“Where were you?” Loki thundered as he stomped into the room, trailing icky, slimy goo all over Stephen’s pristine study.

Stephen only looked Loki up and down in askance. “Bad day at the office, sweetheart?”

“When you said you had my back, was this what you meant?” Loki hissed. “Leaving me to face the Water Sprite Demon all by myself?”

“Well, you threw such a hissy fit the last time I tried to help you.” Stephen nonchalantly licked a finger and flipped a new page. “God forbid I should overstep my boundaries again.”

“That – ” Loki spat, “was a leprechaun troll conjured by a fledgling Harry Potter wannabe barely out of elementary school!”

“You called me a self-centered, condescending, controlling and attention-seeking narcissist!”

“You covered me in glitter!”

“On national TV, Loki!”

Loki’s eyes watered and his chin wobbled. “I almost died, Stephen.”

Stephen rolled his eyes. “No, you didn’t.”

“How would you know? You weren’t there.”

Stephen placed his book carefully on the side table and hefted himself out of his chair with a sigh.

He walked over to where Loki was standing, trembling in anger and hurt. He reached out a hand to pluck something from the front of Loki’s tunic, invisible to everyone’s eyes but his.

Stephen pocketed the protective amulet back and with it, the illusion collapsed, revealing his own tattered clothing and goo-covered, bruised self.

Stephen tsk-tsked. “You need to work on your Loki-tingle, Loki.”

“I hate you.” Loki’s eyes burned with a passion.

“Feisty,” Stephen laughed. He swooped in for a celebratory, ‘I’m-sorry’ kiss. “I _like_ it.”

** Call of Duty **

“I should be out there,” Stephen said testily. “Once a doctor, always a doctor.”

“That used to apply to Doctor Stephen Strange, _MD_ , I’m sure. To Doctor Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme? Not so much.”

“You don’t know how it feels, Loki,” Stephen said numbly.

“Oh I _do_. You feel useless. You feel like you could do more to help your people who are now dying by the thousands.” A pair of arms circled his waist from behind, soothing the frustration and anger boiling in his chest.

“But you, holding the fort right here? It’s your true calling now, Doctor. Protect your reality. Your world needs you now more than ever.” Lips as cold as ice pressed a kiss to the base of his neck. “ _I_ need you.”

“ _Stay_.”

** The Kissing Disease **

“How are you holding up?”

“In, you mean.”

“What?”

“Holding in.” Loki’s hands roamed his own chest, as though looking for a deep-seated itch he could not quite localise. “All my insides.”

He licked his lips and grimaced when the cracks gave way to blood and stinging pain. “My insides are liquefying and leaking out like the innards of a squashed caterpillar.”

Stephen rolled his eyes. “Stop being so dramatic. It’s just mono, Loki.”

“Which I got from kissing _you_ ,” Loki replied scathingly. “You should have come with a warning, Strange.”

“Where would be the fun in that?”

“The fun would be in me enjoying my Sunday with a good book instead of watching my brains cook through my pulverised eyeballs.” Loki coughed dramatically. “And I think something’s clawing its way up my throat.”

“Poor baby,” Stephen cooed. “Want me to read you something?”

“A eulogy. Better make it a good one, Strange.“

“…anything but that.”

** Aria **

“Stephen…”

“Loki…”

“Stephen…”

“Loki…”

“Stephe-e-en…!”

“Oh my God would you guys give it a rest already??!! It’s 4 o’clock in the morning!!!!” A very, very, very irritated voice hollered like a banshee from next door –

“Oops. I think we woke the Valkyrie.” Loki grinned maliciously.

A flourish of the hand and a sound-enhancing spell later, “Let’s go again. In _fortissimo_.”

** Babyshopping Is Fun **

“But Loki, honey…” There was nothing Stephen hated more than bursting Loki’s bubble, but one of them had to stay realistic. “We don’t actually need a carseat for the baby.”

“The post-natal checklist states that we must have a carseat fitted before we bring the baby home, Stephen.” Loki ran his hands down a 3-in-1 convertible carseat/bassinet/stroller. “The law says so.”

“I don’t exactly drive, remember?” Stephen wriggled his magic hands. “I just wave my hands about and we’re home!”

“Please don’t ruin this moment for me, Husband.” Loki hummed as he perused another row of state-of-the-art, top-of-the-range carseats.

Stephen’s mouth worked as if to say something, but decided against it when Loki called upon the attention of a salesperson - this he definitely must see.

“Excuse me, my dear,” Loki gave the lady his most charming smile. “Will you show me which of these fits on a horse?”

“Loki, our newborn baby is NOT going horseback riding!” Stephen hollered, tugging on his husband’s arm and bodily pulling him out of the baby store. “And for the record, neither are you!”

A giant pout. “Awww.”

** Missing scene: Natural Selection, Chapter 9 **

“Is this normal?” Loki’s breaths were coming out in short, controlled puffs.

“What is?” Stephen asked mildly.

When it took Loki too long to answer, Stephen looked up from the ancient text he was reading, something he had taken to doing at leisure ever since Loki entered his life. It was like having his very own Google Translate Incarnate.

“You mean the cramping?” Stephen’s educated guess was spot-on, for Loki was then gripped by yet another painful spasm that doubled him over, and Stephen winced in sympathy. “Yeah…I’m afraid it is. I suppose you’ve never had food poisoning before back in Asgard?”

Through gritted teeth, Loki hissed, both from the pain and annoyance that Stephen should be spared this agony. Perhaps Stephen’s human, New York stomach was used to such bacteria-laden street fare.

“Poisoning as in actual, assassination-attempt sort of situation? Plenty.” Loki sounded bitter. “Gastrointestinal distress from innocent-looking shreds of meat from a pit on bread? Can’t say I’m enjoying my first time very much.”

Stephen clammed as he had the tendency to do whenever Loki offered him an unsavoury peek into his past. Finally,

“How you survived all these centuries is beyond me,” Stephen said quietly, his face pale.

Loki rolled his eyes. “I was a Prince, Strange. I had my food tasted all the time, I was never in any real danger.”

An irritable look contorted his features into a twisted snarl. “Norns, will this wretched pain ever stop?”

Stephen frowned. “The medicine I gave you, it didn’t work at all?”

Loki shook his head. “If anything, it’s making my stomach turn itself inside out. I don’t think there’s anything left in me to expel.”

“Maybe next time you’ll listen to me when I tell you to stay away from dubiously-sourced foods. Certain things may look very good but can be deadly.”

Loki snickered. “Like me.”

“Don’t flatter yourself. You’re so pasty and sweaty I’m gonna have to change my sheets tonight.”

“Or you can sleep somewhere _else_.”

Stephen tsk-tsked. “You can’t kick me out of my own bedroom.”

“Call Thor for me, would you? Tell him to come pick me up.”

Despite his jesting words, Loki sounded almost serious.

“Is the pain really that bad?” Stephen asked warily. It slipped his mind sometimes that his lover was not strictly human; there was still a lot more about Loki’s physiology that was a mystery to him.

Loki closed his eyes. Gone was the greenish tint to his face, in its place now a sickly greyish pallor. His hand kneaded his aching side. “I’ll live.”

Stephen was starting to get a little worried. “Let me have a feel again.”

“No, thank you,” Loki declined, his words sharper than he intended.

“Loki…”

“No, it hurts more if you touch it.” Loki wrapped a protective arm around his midsection.

Stephen’s frown deepened. “That has never happened before.”

“Yeah well, I guess there’s a first time for everything.” Any other day, a belly rub from Stephen would be divine, but tonight, even the idea of it was making Loki’s turbulent stomach twist upon itself into gnarly knots.

“Try and get some sleep.” Something was nagging at the back of Stephen’s mind and he could not quite put a finger on it.

“What a _brilliant_ idea,” Loki muttered. “If only I haven’t been trying to do just that for the past two hours.”

Stephen reached across the bed and palmed Loki’s clammy forehead. Was that a slight temperature he was feeling? The pangs of worry returned full-force but Stephen fought them down.

“Sleep,” he soothed with a touch of magic.

“Hmm.” Loki’s forehead wrinkled as drowsiness warred with pain for dominance over his consciousness. “You’ll stay?”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Stephen reassured him.

“I’m sorry, Stephen.”

“For what?”

“Didn’t mean to get a tummy ache,” Loki murmured, his eyes already closed. “I ruined movie night.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Stephen reprimanded lightly. “When you’re sick, you’re sick. We can always watch Lawrence of Arabia some other night.”

A half-smile tugged at the corners of Loki’s lips.

“What?”

“Nothing.” Loki was still smiling. “Finally found someone who can put up with me. Thor would be pleased.”

“For you or for him?” Stephen asked teasingly.

“Thor likes you,” Loki mumbled drowsily. The blades that had been slashing away in his belly for the past few hours had dulled somewhat, enough so he could enjoy Stephen’s ministrations, even if only for a little while. He was dreadfully sleepy.

“Do you?”

“Do I what?”

Stephen was silent for long, long minutes.

“Like me?” He finally asked.

Loki did not answer, for he was already asleep.

Stephen fingered the creases at the outer corner of Loki’s eye and wished he could rub them away. Be it a sign of aging or pain, Stephen did not wish to see any. Not tonight, not tomorrow, not ever.

Stephen settled back into his armchair and went back to reading. It was an ancient Sanskrit scroll and from what he could discern with Loki’s help, it contained containment spells for evil spirits that specifically dwelled in the hearts of man driven to committing violence and murders; they would come in handy if ever Stephen came across certifiable foes in the future.

Stephen had barely gone in depth into the text when Loki’s form suddenly trembled and thrashed on the bed –

“Loki?”

Loki began to moan. A tear escaped from between tightly closed lids and slid down a cheek.

Stephen cupped Loki’s forehead and lifted the sleeping spell.

Loki’s eyes flew open and a burst of seidr pushed Stephen physically aside as Loki frantically pawed himself up to an upright position and started retching onto the floor.

“Stephen, something’s wrong –” Loki gasped in a breath before he heaved again, and brackish bile spattered the floor, dark and ominous.

“Stephen…” he wept.

 _How humiliating_.

He could feel Stephen’s hands all over him, trying to get Loki to uncoil, could hear Stephen curse over and over to himself.

Loki curled tighter around the monstrous pain in his belly and could not contain his cries anymore.

“ _Thor_ …”

 _Doubly humiliating_.

Stephen’s panicked face was the last thing Loki saw before everything faded to black.


	2. Chapter 2

** The Alpha **

“Pappa?”

“Yes, dearest?”

“Why are flamingoes pink?”

“That’s easy. It’s because shrimps are one of their main sources of food.”

“Pappa.”

“Hmm?”

“Can dogs see all their legs all at once?”

“Not all at once, no. But donkeys can.”

“Really?”

“Yes. It has something to do with the placement of their eyes.” Loki combed his fingers through Stian’s glossy strands. “Speaking of eyes...did you know if you cut off an eye off a mystery snail, it will grow a new one?”

“That’s so cool!” Stian leaned more snugly against his mother. “Tell me another one.”

“Hmm, let’s see...” Loki tried to think, “Och I can’t think of one off the top of my head – what’s your favourite animal, Stian?”

“Uhmm...I like dolphins,” Stian picked out a small rubber dolphin from his impressive collection of animal figurines.

“Yeah? Me too.” Loki watched Stian play out an imaginary battle between the dolphin and a rhinoceros. “Did you know when dolphins sleep, only one half of its brain is sleeping? The other half has to stay awake to make it come up for air, to keep from drowning.”

“You’re so smart, Pappa,” Stian gushed.

“Well...my Mother...your late Grandmother, may her soul rest in eternal peace in Valhalla, taught me a lot of things.” Loki cupped Stian’s chin and tilted his small face upward to drop a kiss on his button nose. “And now I’m teaching them to you.”

Not to be outdone, Stephen cleared his throat loudly. “I know a lot about animals too.”

Loki and Stian both turned to look, the expectant expression on their faces identical down to the doubtful look in their eyes.

“Did you know that scientists have performed brain surgery on cockroaches?”

Mother and son wrinkled their noses.

“And did you know that we humans share 70% of our DNA with a slug?”

“Yeah, okay, so only 35% of Stian’s then -” Loki hurriedly picked up their son. “Come on, darling, it’s time for bed.”

“But I’m not finished!” Stephen protested.

“Oh yes you are.” Loki threw him a disgusted look. “Say goodnight to your father, Stian.”

“Nite-nite, Daddy.”

“Did you know that a starving mouse – ” The nursery door closed behind him with a loud click. “- will eat its own tail.”

Stephen sighed. “Guess I’ll just stick to Disney then.”

____________________________

** Masquerade, Paper Faces on Parade **

Stephen watched with a critical eye and a healthy dose of alarm. “Not that it is any of my business, but why must you always put on so many layers? New York isn’t exactly The Arctic, you know.”

Loki rolled his eyes as he painstakingly put on the nth layer of body armour. “Explaining my grooming and dressing regime to you would only take hours off my precious life.”

Stephen barely batted an eyelash. “I’m sure it would but it must be a hundred and ten degrees outside! I can lend you a T-shirt if you want. If that’s not too beneath you, of course –”

Loki smirked. “Thank you kindly, but no.”

“You’re going to pass out from the heat,” Stephen warned.

Loki shrugged.

“I’m not gonna carry you,” Stephen threatened.

Loki shrugged again. “Okay.”

Stephen sighed. “Loki. Honestly.”

Loki glared. “It’s...habit, alright? Having the God of Thunder for a brother, how else do you expect me to dress?”

Stephen balked. “You’re telling me you endured all this for centuries just to make yourself look bulky?”

Loki beamed proudly. “Intimidating, more like.”

Stephen uttered a dumbfounded “Huh.”

Loki sighed. “Stephen. Honestly.”

Stephen shook his head. “No, no, I’m genuinely having a difficult time processing this. Honestly.”

Loki sniffed. “Well, it isn’t any different from putting folded socks in your bra, is it.”

Stephen stared, and soon, his shoulders slumped. “...if you say so, Precious.”

____________________________

** Dazed **

“Hold still,” Loki muttered, probing the side of Stephen’s head with surprisingly gentle fingers.

“Never saw it coming,” Stephen mumbled, his head lolling. “D’cha get the number on that truck?”

He reached out and tried to touch Loki’s face. “Hey, you’re pretty.”

“Will you hold still and let me take a look at you?” Loki snapped.

“You sound – _hic_ – you sound worried there for a sec.” Stephen hiccupped, his pupils zooming in and out of focus. “Where’s Loki and what have you done with him?”

“He doesn’t sound good.” Wong frowned. “Should I call somebody? What’s her name again, Carrie? Chrissie?”

“Christine, as in Christine the haunted evil car,” Loki said distractedly. “That’s how I remember it.”

“You’re pretty,” Stephen mumbled again, slurring even more now. “Isn’t he pretty, Wang?”

“Oh dear,” Wong muttered. “I’m gonna get an ice pack from the freezer or something.”

“I’m way ahead of you.” Loki laid an ice-cold hand against the lump fast growing in size on the side of Stephen’s head.

Wong whistled at the sight of Loki’s long, blue fingers. “Does it work both ways? Like can you heat up a cup of soup? I think the stove is blown when the Dark Elf knocked Stephen into it.”

Despite his concern for Stephen, Loki spared no malice; green wisps of seidr wafted from the fingertips on his other hand. “I don’t know. You want to give it a go?”

“No, thanks,” Wong declined hurriedly. “I should, uh, I should call the ghost car lady now. Stephen looks like he’s about to hurl – ”

“You do that,” Loki said in the calmest, deadliest voice Wong had ever heard.

“Loki...” Stephen swallowed thickly. “Don’ feel so good...”

“Shh, you’re alright. I’m here.” Loki pressed his palm harder against the lump to try to bring down the swelling. “I’m here.”

____________________________

** Dreamcatcher **

“Loki?” Stephen murmured.

“Shhh. Go back to sleep,” Loki said softly.

“Is something wrong?” Stephen pushed himself up on an elbow, blinking blearily.

“Nothing,” Loki swallowed hard. He wrapped his arms around Stephen’s neck, and made to pull his lover back to bed, but Stephen knew better. Loki was hiding his face –

“Hey.” Stephen cupped a hand on the back of Loki’s head and began unconsciously kneading the tight muscles of Loki’s scalp. The dampness against his throat was alarming. “What’s the matter? Headache?”

Loki shook his head. “ ‘m fine.”

“Bad dream?” came Stephen’s second guess, quieter this time.

Loki reluctantly nodded. “Just a dream.”

He sighed into the crook of Stephen’s stubbled jawline, his breath hot with tell-tale remnants of fear, and sheer relief.

“I’m here,” Stephen soothed, brushing his ljps gently against the outer corner of Loki’s eye. He tasted salt on his tongue. “You’re alright.”

Loki nodded and sighed.

Stephen did not ask what it was that Loki dreamt of. It was not important, not anymore. What was important however, was how he should hold Loki just a little tighter, and a little longer – just so Loki could, hopefully, fall into sleep again. Dreamless this time.

_“I’m here.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stian is Stephen and Loki's eldest son in the Capsule Collection Universe.
> 
> Christine, the eponymous character in Stephen King's novel 'Christine'.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Tale of Loki and His Mushrooms**

It was too late an hour to still call it morning when Stephen stepped out of the portal that bright, summer’s day. Having wrapped things up earlier than scheduled at Kamar-Taj, Stephen had quickly made his escape as soon as it was reasonably acceptable to do so.

It was simply one of those days when he longed to do nothing but to spend some quality time with his family.

From the state of their kitchen in New Asgard, it looked as though Loki had had a very successful foraging trip too.

Although Loki was nowhere to be seen, the tantalising smell of something delicious still hung in the air, and it was coming from the platter on the kitchen counter.

Stephen lifted the cloche and his eyes brightened.

Sautéed mushrooms with garlic butter, Stephen hummed in delight as he picked up a fork and knife, all ready to steal a bite. It happened to be one of his favourite dishes, and Stephen knew he was the luckiest man in the universe for no one cooked it better than Loki –

“Stephen, _NO!”_

A hand slammed into his wrist with such force it sent the fork flinging all the way to the very end of the kitchen counter.

“Did you eat any?” Loki demanded, his eyes wild.

“Wh-what’s the matter?” Flabbergasted, Stephen unconsciously held his dinner knife up in defence despite the futility of it all. Loki looked _furious_.

True enough, the next thing Stephen knew, Loki was all over him like a mad man, wrestling his arms away and wrenching his jaws apart so violently it had Stephen seeing stars.

“Did you swallow any?” Loki frantically peered into Stephen’s oral cavity, checking all corners of his mouth for God knew what.

“Nyoki whu - guuh?” Stephen forgot vocalising intelligible words required full autonomous control of his lips and tongue; once he remembered, he flapped his arms like a maniac instead. _What gives???_

Loki released his jaw and began pawing at Stephen’s throat and belly next. “Does it hurt anywhere? Do you feel ill at all?”

Stephen shook his head vehemently. “I haven’t had any, Loki! Jeez!”

“How could you be so foolish?” Loki raged.

“Fooli - _Me??!”_

Completely and utterly spent, Loki sank back into the dining chair in sheer relief.

“What’s going on with you?” Stephen asked dimly, only too aware of his still-racing heart. “I’ve never seen you this upset over me eating your mushrooms before.”

“They are not regular mushrooms, Stephen.”

Stephen peered more closely at the dish in front of him.

“They look like regular straw mushroom to me?” Stephen said uncertainly.

An almost guilty look crept into Loki’s eyes. “They are death cap mushrooms.”

“What?” Stephen nearly shrieked. “Why the hell would you even – what were you thinking?”

“I was thinking of a nice rustic lunch for myself!” Loki’s voice rose in pitch. “You were not supposed to be home for hours!”

“The meeting finished early!”

“Why are you yelling at me?”

“I’m not yelling!” Stephen yelled.

“Sounds like yelling to me,” Loki huffed.

“Only because my insufferable husband has a death wish and simply couldn’t resist the temptation of the single, most deadly species in the fungus family!”

“They’re delicious!”

“That is _so_ not the point!” Stephen berated. “And how would you even know what they taste like?”

“Uh, because I’ve had them before?” Loki deadpanned.

“You have?”

Loki nodded.

“And you didn’t…like, die?”

Loki dramatically patted his heart, which was very much alive and beating. “Nuh-uh.”

To prove his point, Loki picked up the discarded fork and started gobbling up the mushrooms hurriedly, more out of fear that Stephen would confiscate them than actual hunger.

Stephen stared at his husband in bewilderment.

“You are telling me…that that stomach of yours is sensitive to things like sesame seeds and eggplant, but is totally immune to toxic things like death cap mushrooms?”

“And cherry pits, puffer fish, roadside hot dogs…just to name a few.” Loki smacked his lips. “And oh, I’m okay with raw meat too.”

“Loki, you’re going to be the death of me one day.”

**Stick 'em with the Pointy End**

“Take it out,” Loki hissed.

“No, that is definitely the last thing you should do!” Stephen snapped, his mind racing as he tried to figure out the best way to move Loki without injuring him further. “The tamponade effect could be the only thing keeping you from bleeding out!”

“I can’t heal myself if this thing is still in me,” Loki panted, his slight frame shuddering from the agony wracking his entire midsection. A bead of sweat made its way down his temple as he threw his head back and fought down the urge to vomit; who knew what he might bring up – more blood? Pieces of his kidney?

“Strange, please. It’s – caught in my – liver.” Loki swallowed down a glob of bile. It left a metallic aftertaste in his mouth. “ _Poison_.”

 _Fuck. Fuck. Fuck_. Stephen wrapped his shaking fingers around the hilt of the rapier; what little of the blade he could see not embedded in his lover’s abdomen glowed an ominous sanguine red, a stark contrast to the bright red of Loki’s blood painting the quillon and now Stephen’s hands in little spurts with each agonal breath.

“Stephen, _hurry_ ,” Loki gasped, gnashing teeth stained with blood. “Hurts…”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry - ” Stephen chanted apology after hurried apology twinned to a spell, and _yanked_.

And Loki screamed.

**One Life to Live**

Stephen stepped out of the portal and onto a scene of carnage, a lightshow of death and destruction and bodies mangled beyond repair.

“Loki!” he bellowed at the top of his lungs, but the noxious miasma of burning flesh and molten metal and acrid smoke singed his throat and he coughed violently. Was he too late? He thought frantically.

Stephen bargained with his constricting airways for one last breath of mercy, just so he could call out the name, that of his one true beloved. _“Loki!!!”_

“Strange…” a dull voice called, and Stephen’s heart leapt to his throat.

His legs turned to jelly and Stephen suddenly found himself on his knees; his robes, tattered from Ebony Maw’s attempts to skewer him alive, squelched as they soaked up the blood pooling on the once-pristine floor of the Statesman.

Thor was cradling Loki as gently as he could in his lap as if his brother was only sleeping, but the unnatural angle at which Loki’s head was lolling was a stab right through Stephen’s heart, and he grappled uselessly at his neck where the Eye of Agamotto once hung.

His hand came away empty, as empty as the look in Loki’s lifeless, empty eyes.

 _No_.

And Doctor Stephen Strange, the greatest Sorcerer Supreme to ever live, wept harsh, bitter tears. “No, Loki…”


	4. Chapter 4

**Ce-Real Lover**

“Darling, have you seen the lint roller? I think Thor’s cat slipped into our house again, Levi’s sneezing non-stop – ”

“Shhh!!!” Loki’s hand flapped wildly behind his back like a strangled penguin. “Quickly, hide!”

“Huh?” Stephen worked his head through the gap between the door jamb and Loki’s hip. “Who are we spying on?” He squinted. “Why is our son praying to the fruit bowl?”

Loki hid a snicker behind a cool, “Take a guess.”

“You did it again, didn’t you. That cruel trick. What did you turn this time? Water into wine?”

“You flatter me, Husband. Although I wouldn’t say no to being worshipped once in a while.”

Loki happily corrected his crouching position into a semi-squatting one that placed his fine behind snugly on Stephen’s thigh. “Transformative magic isn’t that difficult when you’ve got all the ingredients at hand. I just turned apples and some cinnamon powder into Apple Jacks, you purposefully didn’t get any the last time you did our grocery run.”

“Sugar is poison,” Stephen sniffed. He watched as blue sparks swirled uselessly around the tips of their seven-year-old’s fingers. “Let me guess. He wanted Fruit Loops for breakfast?”

“Yep. Don’t worry. I haven’t taught him how.” At the sight of Stephen’s skeptical half-raised eyebrow, Loki added aloofly, “Sugar _is_ poison.”

Stephen only laughed.

Loki winced as their frustrated firstborn picked up a banana and threw it at the wall. “Ouch. He’s definitely got a temper.”

“Wonder which one of us he got it from.”

“Hmm.” Loki wrapped his arms around the back of Stephen’s neck and rested their temples against each other with a nostalgic sigh. “How quickly they grow...”

“Yeah...” Stephen’s legs were starting to cramp from the loss of circulation and bearing Loki’s considerable weight. He ran a gentle hand up and down his husband’s back. “Wanna grow another one?”

Loki turned his head very, very slowly despite the intense pull of Stephen’s gaze. “We have to make her first.”

“Ooh. A girl.” Stephen wrapped his arms around Loki’s waist and performed a magic trick of his own; Loki yelped in surprised delight to find himself sinking into the mountain of fluffy pillows, and someone’s teeth sinking into his neck – “How _exciting_.”

**The Blockbuster Curse**

_“Nooooooo!!!!”_

“I…don’t think I want to know what happened.”

“No, you don’t.” Stephen calmly upended a can of beer into a glass.

Tony watched Stephen and wondered why his friend was doing something so pointless, but figured it must be for therapeutic reasons; the Sorcerer Supreme looked especially composed for someone whose centuries-old boyfriend was having the meltdown of the century in the room next door.

That, and Tony still had no idea what he was doing there. He did not accidentally sign up to be the notorious God of Mischief’s emergency contact in one of his drunken stupors, did he? “I mean…do I? He sounds like he’s broken.”

“In a manner of speaking…I guess he is.”

A tumbling, crashing sound interrupted them mid-conversation, followed by a long, mournful, heart-wrenching, ‘Whyyyyyyy???’

“And now so is my TV,” Stephen sighed.

“Right. So. Uhmm. I guess I’d better get going.” Tony began collecting his jacket and imaginary bric-a-bracs to give the impression that he was a very busy man and hence hastily leaving.

“You know I’d do anything for you, buddy, but whatever this is, this sounds domestic, and I really don’t think I should be here – ”

“You’re not going anywhere, Stark.”

The Cloak of Levitation flew in from out of nowhere and hovered over the front door, crossing its hems grandly like a mystical bouncer.

“Whu-Wha-” Tony sank into the chair nearest to him like the good hostage that he was and watched in horror as Stephen downed almost half a pint of the 12% alcohol beer in one gulp, the strongest Tony had ever seen his friend imbibe for as long as they knew each other.

“This is all your fault after all,” Stephen said viciously.

So. Stephen Strange was not a happy drunk. Got it.

“Uh…” Tony fidgeted. “Not that I don’t appreciate the credit but uh…how so?”

“You keep calling him Bambi.”

“Yeah I mean, I do that with everybody, I call you Doctor Destiny for example because you dream weird dreams and suddenly they come to life, but that’s…” Tony’s rambling faltered as Stephen’s piercing glare grew fiercer and fiercer by the second, “…beside the point.”

“Damn right it is,” Stephen said sullenly, downing the rest of his super-strength beer. “You’ve ruined our night. Fix this now, before I ruin _you_.”

“But what did I do??” Tony wailed.

“You call him Bambi!” Stephen stabbed a finger in Tony’s chest. “And he wanted to know why!!!”

Stephen bid a silent farewell to more and more of his belongings as he listened to them being systematically destroyed by his beloved in his godly rage with each passing second, and realisation finally dawned on Tony.

“Oh, Doctor…” Tony moaned. “Couldn’t you have just read him a book or something?”

“Blockbuster is shutting down and they were letting go classic Disney DVDs for 99 cents each,” Stephen mumbled.

“Fuck me,” Tony muttered under his breath.

“That can be arranged,” Stephen growled. He pointed a finger in the direction of his home theatre. “Fix him!”

“For God’s sake, Strange, couldn’t you have just skipped the part where Bambi’s mum…” Tony gestured with his hand, alluding to something that should be universally obvious, “You know?”

“No one skips that part!” Stephen’s nose flared. “It’s one of the most defining moments in the whole movie!”

“Great. Now I have to think of something clever to call him without you ruining the fun for everybody!”

“How about you call him by his name?” Stephen suggested sweetly. “I believe his name is Loki.”

“So it is, Strange.” Tony finally sighed a small, sad sigh as he dragged his leaden feet across the kitchen. “So it is.”

**I'm Lovin' It**

“I don’t need this.”

“Come on, Loki. Humour me.” Stephen fiddled with the screen and a tinny, eerie tune started to play. “I’ve even set that creepy ‘Tiptoe Through The Tulips’ song you like so much as your ringtone.”

“Tiny Tim was a genius,” Loki relented slightly, but his interest waned just as the song finished, and to be honest, Stephen was too creeped out to play it again. “I don’t have pockets.”

“Really. Just the other day I saw you produce a big-ass gauging trowel out of nowhere when Thor needed it for paving his new driveway and now you’re telling me you haven’t got pockets.”

“Not for useless trinkets you millennials keep trying to pass off as genius inventions of modern living, I haven’t.” 

“It is not useless. I can’t think of anything you can’t do with a phone nowadays. Everyone has one.” Stephen muttered as an afterthought, clearly insulted, “Just because I have one too doesn’t make me a millennial.”

Loki hummed. “If you say so.”

“Surely this is more convenient and less intrusive than my opening up a portal every time I want to see you,” Stephen argued. “Like, what if you were in the bathroom and I had a very urgent matter I really, really needed to talk to you about?”

“So urgent you couldn’t wait?” Loki asked dryly. “Gosh, the world’d better be ending.”

Stephen shrugged. “Stranger things have happened.”

“You mean you humans even bring this into the toilet with you?” Loki’s face twisted in disgust. “And all these years I thought Odin was bad. You’re worse. Marginally.”

Stephen did not think he had ever welcomed such a change in subject, as unsavoury as it was. “Odin?”

“He used to hold audiences with his...mortal subjects via bodies of water. Back when he thought interrealm relations were still relevant.” And Midgard still had gold, Loki added silently. 

“Loki,” Stephen sighed his lover’s name in defeat. “I will not be made to communicate with you through the toilet bowl.”

Loki triumphantly handed the brand-new, still-in-its-protective-plastic-packaging mobile phone back to Stephen. 

“To think I waited hours in line for this...” Stephen said mournfully. “Wonder if I ordered Chicken McNuggets once if that would void the warranty...there’s a 10% discount for online orders, it says so on the window next to the Apple store – ”

“Chicken McNuggets?!” Loki’s eyes widened to the size of saucers. He seized the phone out of Stephen’s hand, “Gimme that!”

“Why on earth did you not lead with that? How do I – what do I do??” Loki swiped furiously at the screen. “Where’s the McDonald’s app???”

“Ay, ay, ay.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Delirious Love**

“What’s that?”

“A decongestant spray. It was on special at the chemist.”

“Where does it go?” Loki eyed the palm-sized plastic device in Stephen’s hand warily.

“Sit up,” Stephen ordered. He rolled his eyes at the sight of his lover visibly shrinking back into the covers. “No, it’s not going up your ass, Loki.”

“Could have used that warning shot the last time,” Loki muttered under his breath.

Stephen pretended not to hear it, but his face coloured nonetheless. “Come on, sit up. Think you can manage that much?”

“If I had any strength left, I would have shifted into a fish so I wouldn’t have to breathe,” Loki said irritably.

“That’s…not exactly true. I mean, not that you wouldn’t look cute with gills, but cuddling you underwater doesn’t sound very appealing.”

Loki coughed theatrically when something trickled down the back of his throat, a place so inaccessible the only way he could think of to get rid of the itch was by swallowing his own dagger. “At least I wouldn’t have lungs.”

“But you wouldn’t have me.” Stephen’s words meant to be soothing, but Loki looked anything but soothed as he huffed and puffed his way up into a sitting position.

In fact, he looked as crabby as hell. His unruly black curls framed a face the same shade of white as the sheets, except for the identical spots of crimson flushing his cheeks and the tip of his nose.

“Oh, Rudolph…” Stephen cooed gently, his tone teasing, his sympathy very genuine.

“You’d better be referring to one of the Habsburgs’ Rudolfs, or you can explain to me what you and that infuriating Anthony Stark find so endearing about this…fictional animal,” Loki retorted, but what was supposed to be a vicious snarl was mellowed somewhat by the nasal twang of his flu-roughened voice. “You have ten seconds.”

“Well,” Stephen racked his brain for a way to salvage his pride by offering an articulate, semi-sound argument, no small feat at three o’clock in the morning –

“Rudolph may be the youngest of all of Santa Claus’ reindeers, but he is also the brightest. That’s why he gets to be team leader. He rides out at the very front of the sleigh.”

Loki fell quiet, his silence stretching from the realm of pensive thoughtfulness to what Stephen was hoping to be much-needed sleep, but as he reached across Loki’s lap to turn the bedside lamp off, a pair of arms suddenly wrapped around his neck.

“No one’s ever called me that before.” Loki’s hot, fevered breath bristled the fine hair on the back of Stephen’s ear.

Stephen hid his surprise behind a forced laugh. “What, team leader?”

“No. Bright.” Loki’s long lashes fluttered against the underside of Stephen’s jaw like a kaleidoscope of butterflies. “That has always belonged to Thor.”

“Not anymore.” Stephen gently pried Loki’s arms from around his neck and began rearranging his lover’s upper body and limbs against the mountain of pillows propped up against the headboard. “This will help you breathe easier.”

Loki nodded numbly, knowing resisting was futile. After spraying the medication into his nose (which was more painful than he expected), he allowed Stephen to collect all he could gather of Loki into his much warmer, human arms, but a niggling smidge of worry remained.

“Are you sure it’s safe to do this? I might just pass this malady on to you.”

“It’s fine. I had my shot this year, just in time for the flu season”

“Lucky you.”

“Lucky me,” Stephen agreed. He nuzzled his nose into the bed of curls at Loki’s temple and murmured, “You’re brighter than the sun to me, you know that?“

Loki palpably froze in his arms. “I’m not dying, am I?”

Stephen chuckled. “Hardly. Once we get you sleeping and resting like you should, you’ll be back to terrorising Wong in no time. He misses you.”

“Good. You had me worried there with all the fussing and wooing.”

Loki snuggled deeper into the warm embrace, and sighed into the crook of Stephen’s jawline. “It’s too soon to die.”

Stephen’s stomach lurched. “Why would you – ”

“So much we haven’t done,” Loki mumbled. _“So much.”_

After a short eternity had passed,

“We have all the time in the universe, Loki.”

Loki thanked Stephen silently for the lie, and decided he should say it once, before sleep, short and eternal alike, should claim him for good.

Stephen would probably think it was the fever talking anyway.

“I love you, Strange.”

Now it was Stephen’s turn to freeze, but the pulse Loki could sense throbbing against his cheek soon slowed in tempo; sure enough, it came back to him as calm and as certain as the morning sun.

“I love you too, Rudolph.”

**Sugar Rush**

Stephen sliced off a piece off the shrivelled apple and just as he was about to put it in his own mouth, it disappeared. True enough, he caught the subtle chewing movement just in time before Loki forced his cheek to still, not looking guilty in the slightest.

“Seriously. This has been in the fridge for ages. Would it kill you to eat the things you got me to buy in the first place?” Stephen rebuked, but toned his annoyance down by offering Loki another sliver of fruit. “Or at least let me enjoy the full experience of eating weeks-old fruit for once?”

“It tastes nicer when you’re the one feeding it to me,” Loki mumbled. “I’m your guest, remember?”

“Uh-uh. We have another word for that.” Stephen decided to forgo the knife and took a big bite of the apple on purpose. “Brat.”

The apple juice trickling slowly down the side of Stephen’s arm was too tantalising to ignore; just as it was about to drip onto his face, Loki lifted his head slightly off Stephen’s lap and licked the tip of Stephen’s elbow.

“But I’m _your_ brat,” Loki whispered.

Stephen stared down into green, green eyes gleaming with mischief, apple all but forgotten as his cheek bulged in and out pointlessly.

Loki settled back into Stephen’s lap, purposefully splaying his jet-black locks across his human lover’s thighs, fully aware of what they were concealing underneath. Since it would not do to be so aroused so quickly…

A bowl appeared out of nowhere, and with a salacious grin, Loki thrust it into Stephen’s face. “Can you work on these next? I have a feeling they’re very juicy.”

Stephen fought to keep the blood from rushing to his face. “They’re grapes. You pop them into your mouth and eat them just like that.”

Loki tut-tutted. “I like my grapes seedless _and_ skinless, Doctor.”

Stephen swallowed hard, and nearly choked on half-chewed fruit. He spluttered, “And they said healthy eating was easy.”

“Don’t believe everything your doctor says, Strange.”

Stephen laughed. Loki parted his lips expectantly, but instead of a perfect, peeled grape, got a warm, saccharine kiss for his effort instead.

_“Brat.”_

“Hmm. Juicy.” A lick of the lips later, “Another!”


	6. Chapter 6

**One Kiss To Rule Them All**

The first time they kissed, Stephen wondered if metallic was just how Loki tasted like, having never kissed an alien before. It turned out to be the tang of blood, but before it could trigger alarm bells, Loki showed him the torn tip of his tongue. Apparently no one had bothered to tell him that not all Midgardian crustacean shells were edible.

The second time they kissed, Stephen did not feel it for technically Loki was resuscitating him after a fallen boulder crushed five of his ribs in a row – thanks to Loki’s impressive lung capacity and impeccable CPR skills, Stephen’s flail chest only cost him a day’s stay in hospital instead of thirty. So now Stephen owed Loki thirty dates, and how did that happen?

The third time they kissed was under a mistletoe. Tony Stark was responsible, muttering something about how he could not stand the furtive glances and the sexual tension any longer, said to be so thick it made the room stink of musk and patchouli. However patchouli was supposed to smell, Loki smelled pretty good even if the Christmas sweater he borrowed from Bruce looked like it had to be at least ten years old, judging from the moth balls hanging off of it.

The fourth time they kissed, technically Loki was a frog. An evil enchantress who cast the spell tossed him into a magic pond full of talking animals and Stephen was supposed to guess which ugly critter Loki had been turned into, to turn him back into the Prince he was. Wet and a bit slimy, it was a good thing Stephen got it in one. (It was a nice gesture on the evil enchantress' part to offer him three tries though)

The fifth time they kissed was on Stephen’s raggedy couch, right after that pivotal scene in Breakfast At Tiffany’s – Loki had wanted to go out in the rain to reenact it, but his short stint as a frog had unfortunately given him a cold; as romantic as it was, his clogged sinuses meant they’d had to cut the kiss short leaving them both frustrated, but at least it set a good precedent.

The sixth time they kissed, it was at the altar.

Unlike Audrey Hepburn’s Holly who had to put on her ring herself, their wedding bands gleamed as they promised themselves to each other in front of family and friends - but the kiss, oh the _kiss!_

A magical kiss steeped in binding magic, it was beautiful beyond words, beyond _time_. Stephen saw a glimpse of Yggdrasil, its branches majestic and golden and eternal; Loki saw them growing old together and not even the church bells could drown out the ethereal sounds of laughter…the laughter of their future children.

Six of them, to be exact. One for every kiss, paid in full.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please forgive the fluff. Today is my 8th year wedding anniversary. 🥰


End file.
